Problems with a landlord

ainuvas

My brother is renting a room in a house, and within the last two months his clothes dryer and stove have both died. The landlord is aware of these issues and isn't making a move to fix either, even after multiple requests. Is he able to get out of his rental agreement, or is he stuck there? From what I understand, there have been other issues as well, such as making him move from his room to the basement room, because the landlord wanted to rent his room to somebody else instead. (This is in Ontario/Canada)

noir_blood

Depends on his contract.

Rainfall

It definitely depends on the contract, but having to move to a different room? That sounds pretty fishy, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's something he could do about it.

strakha_7

I own a property in BC that I rent out, so here's what I'd say is up:

It's fishy. First of all, renting out individual rooms is not legal AFAIK. It's more likely (and very common) for one person to hold the lease, and to sublet with or without the tacit consent of the landlord. Anyways. So there is that.

As for forcing him to move out of the one room to the other, this is flat out not cool. Sounds like the landlord wanted to charge more rent for the room. Are the rooms substantially different from one another in terms of furnishings or size?

And for the stove and dryer, if they are provided under the lease, it's the landlord's legal requirement to keep them operating except in the case of abuse by the tenant.

You need to see a copy of the lease. If there is no lease establishing the legal rights of a tenant (or group of tenants, this is possible) to consideration of the house as a home (and thus not to be entered by the landlord except by invitation or through legal procedures), number of keys, what is and isn't included, etc - then your brother should start looking for another place to live. Immediately. It's most likely an under-the-table, undeclared income deal for the landlord - he owns the property but the government (and the utilities most likely) doesn't know he rents it. It's an awful situation to be in.

ainuvas

I think ideally he'd love to get out of there as soon as possible. I've seen the place and I can't blame him, it's pretty bad all around. The room he is in now vs. the basement room is night/day in comparison, the basement is (for lack of a better term) a shithole.

I'm trying to get a copy of the contract now, I'm dealing with him via messenger. I've let him know that he needs to read over the contract with a fine-toothed comb and see if these things are covered or not.

strakha_7

So I went and looked at the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board site, which is pretty useless as far as outlining what should be in a tenancy agreement. I also don't find any reference to a boarding-house type situation, which is what you have there. I know it's not really a boarding house but it's just what I call it when it's a housemate with shared facilities situation.

http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-1.pdf

That's the BC bare minimum for a tenancy agreement. Your brother's agreement should resemble that in terms of content. Duration of contract, how the Act applies, rent payment and frequency, what's inlcuded in the rent (utilities? appliances? parking spot?) security deposit, pets policies, rent increases, repairs, additional terms (yardwork, snow removal, whatever you can come up with).

It doesn't sound like your brother has a document like that.

The biggest thing though, if any kind of written contract does exist, is that there is a condition report. Basically this is the landlord and tenant(s) walking around the place noting anything that could be blamed on the tenant, the landlord stating "I know the tap leaks but I'm going to fix it," etc. "Reasonable wear and tear" can not be blamed on the tenant in any case. This is scuff marks at the main entrance, for example. Seeing how this probably wasn't done, the best immediate advice I can give you is to tell your brother to take pictures of EVERYTHING, and get them notarized (dated, signed, contact information) by someone. Not a fellow housemate. A lawyer is best but will probably charge if they are willing to do it. I don't know, figure it out. And PRINT COPIES that are signed, not a floppy or cd or usb stick. Digital just doesn't cut it for those old fogies on rental boards.

The purpose of the photos is for your brother's damage deposit in case he ends up staying there longer than he anticipates.

Good luck, keep us updated once you get a copy of the contract, if there is one. Hopefully everyone reading this will know now to go check with their local rental board to know what should be in a contract!

ainuvas

Thanks for the advice -- I'm going to try and grab a copy of his paperwork tomorrow, and I'll bring my camera over there so he can take some pictures. Should have an update tomorrow night sometime!